ANYONE WHO HASN'T visited Macau for a while is in for some big surprises. There are many new attractions, and among them are some fabulous places to enjoy this city's celebrated cuisine.
Fans of the 'old Macau' may feel some regret about the galloping development of glitzy new resorts and casinos that has resulted in the closing of so many smaller, older restaurants - some because of rising rents, others because of tougher competition or a combination of both.
The hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop shops are for the most part a thing of the past, at least in the city centre. There is a bright side to all this, though. The inevitable shakedown may have claimed its victims, but the newcomers have raised the quality bar and the survivors are those places that have kept up with demands of more sophisticated customers.
Another big change in the restaurant scene has been geographical.
In the past, most of the best places were on peninsula Macau, with a few notable exceptions in Coloane. In recent years, the city's demographics have shifted, with a huge swelling of Taipa's population, especially now with the construction of mega-resorts on the Cotai Strip bringing tens of thousands of workers just a short walk from Taipa village daily, and soon to bring hordes of hungry tourists.
Cotai will add dozens more restaurants, beginning with the opening of the Venetian this summer. Even before that, a new eatery seems to open up in Taipa village every time you turn around and some of them are good enough to turn the area into the city's new hotbed of culinary excitement.
It wouldn't be Macau without African chicken, bacalhau and egg tarts, and there are still plenty of good places, some new, some old, where typical Macanese fare can be enjoyed, along with the ubiquitous and still reasonably priced Portuguese wines.